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So-called Chinese offer on solar imports insults Europe

On 6th June, the European Commission found Chinese producers guilty of flooding the European market with dumped solar panels, cells and wafers at prices typically 50% lower than the cost of production.

Such behaviour is illegal under WTO and EU law, and has cost Europe thousands of jobs.

According to media reports last week and this week, Beijing has made and stuck to an empty ‘offer’ of a minimum price of 0.50 euros per watt for an annual volume of solar panel exports of up to 10 Gigawatt (GW) of solar modules.

“If press reports are true, the Chinese government shows it is not seriously interested in a negotiated solution. China insults Europe with a volume cap that might even exceed the entire EU market, at prices below the Chinese cost of production and transport. It is a smack in the face of the Europeans who have made every attempt to reach an amicable solution,” said Milan Nitzschke, President of EU ProSun.

“China is wasting the time offered to it to make a serious proposal on a negotiated settlement with the European Union if they want to avoid the automatic increase of the provisional duties to their full amount. The European solar industry and the EU want a fair negotiated settlement with China, but in the absence of a genuine offer from Beijing, anti-dumping duties of 47.6% will come into effect from 6th August. Chinese solar companies like their government try to avoid WTO rules and paying European taxes but international trade law must be upheld,” concluded Nitzschke.

Dr Henry Snaith of the University of Oxford has been named as one of the ten people who have made the most difference in science during 2013 in recognition of his work on next generation solar power technology.